DWD contained I Dream of Jeannie theme and Under Pressure teases and was unfinished. Fuego included a Bug tease from Trey. Ghost contained a HYHU tease from Trey and a Weekapaug Groove tease from Fish. Scents and Subtle Sounds did not contain the Intro, but did include a DEG tease. Manteca was last played June 16, 2012 (165 shows).

Show Reviews

Chalk Dust to open the show was short and sweet, not really jammed out, but it sets the tone for the show.

Free was standard and Breath and Burning was a nice newer song (they've been experimenting a little bit with this, I like that).

Theme was great as usual, I kind of like the first set spot for that.

Cities was some good shit, although this Theme > Cities was no where near 12/31/2014.
Wombat was great for some mid-set funk, and the boys really exploded on SOAM. Great jam, I would definitely listen again.
Sparkle and ASIHTOS were standard, great to hear Sparkle again.

Space Oddity was a nice treat to end the set. The boys must be proud of their acapella version to keep singing it past the tribute version at Wrigley.

Now here comes the meat of the show, and what a good one it was.

Down With Disease opens the set, predictably, and soon launches into the jam. Trey leads with some inspired Type 1 jamming for a while, and it sounds like he was teasing Under Pressure for a little bit. Page took it into blissy haze for a while after that, and after a nice peak, they quiet down and here come the opening piano chords to...

Fuego, which is great placement in my opinion. They nail the composed section and go into the jam, which is type 1 for a while until they bring everything down. Beautiful jam in Fuego, and I think the transition to Ghost should have been a ->, but some may disagree.

Here comes the absolute highlight of the show and possibly the tour.
This Ghost begins softly, but soon picks up the 3.0 funk style. It starts to get a little murky and deep, but Page picks up a good backing rhythm and when Trey pitches up from C to D, we get our FANTASTIC HOSE JAMMING!!! Fish's fills become legendary, and the whole band is in cohesive synchronicity, and Trey peaks the Hose!!!!!!

Fantastic interplay coming from all members of the band.

Next is Scents and Subtle Sounds, which upon looking back proved to be the slowdown song of the set, but what a song this is! I love SASS and the vocal interplay, it's one of the ones that I seek out and listen to when I see that it's played live. Lovely version!

In comes the segue to Light, which was a great choice, because Light has been the jam vehicle of the tour. Also surprising because I can't remember a complete and tight -> into Light before. Quickly Light is brought into the jamming arena, and again the band works very well to create a groove.Trey leads a blissy peak again, and then we get a moment of Swirly Funk that leads into CRAB IN MY SHOE MOUTH !! A Manteca tease, at a good time.

Next is No Quarter, with a good segue into it. Love the riff and Page's vocals as always.

Someone was saying at this point that the only thing that could improve this magical set was a Fluffhead, and look what happened. The boys mostly nail this with a celebratory air that said "Look at the show we just performed."

I was hoping that there would be Chalk Dust Torture Reprise in the encore, but I was not disappointed in the slightest bit to see Bug, which was also celebratory in nature, and then a fat First Tube to send us off.

Highlights: Theme, SOAM, Sparkle, The Entire Second Set

What a wonderful show. This is 2016 Phish at its best, this is 3.0 at its best. Enjoy it while you can. 5/5

Honestly, I don't think it's even a close call. Last night's second set was the best so far this year.

It had all the ingredients for that rare all-star set:

- Multiple jams throughout that each cohere around inspired themes

- A beautiful flow from one song to the next, from the beginning to the end, with no ripcords and patient segues.

- Surprising and exciting song selection - rarities and an unusual number of heavy hitters back to back.

- A celebratory, fitting encore to close the deal.

Certainly a few shows this tour have had - some - of those qualities. SPAC 1, Wrigley, Mann 1, Mansfield, Gorge 1. Even Mexico 3. But I think it's pretty clear that no other single second set + encore can rate as high on all of those levels as last night.

Glad to see Phish back in top form after a tour that had been a bit of a step back from last summer's tour for the ages.

Night 2 at BCGA offered an even better performance then Monday. I thought the first night was a solid above average show, but this show certainly elevated to another level.

Chalkdust Torture (back in the leadoff spot) is always welcome and kicked the energy to 11 right away.

Free has me thinking we were in for a Saturday style rock show and contained the typically great work of Mike, with Trey finishing the job with a solid peaking solo.

Breath and Burning was a new one for me. It was decent, and it's always good to see Page get a chance in the spotlight for some nice work on the organ.

Theme felt strong, although not perfectly executed, and Trey's solo on this one always sends me to the mountaintop.

I was calling Cities as an opener, but it was more than welcome after the first four selections and felt pretty mellow with a nice relaxed outro jam.

Maze always sounds like the best version you've ever heard. This one did too. A great song in the live setting - more Page madness.

Wombat?! Little bustout here. Good call bookending the darkness of Maze with the funk of Cities and Wombat and I thought Trey played a nice solo. Everyone like's encouraging Fishman to grab the mic.

Back to the darkness with Split Open and Melt - the set was really flowing at this point. Melt felt pretty short but still managed to have the moment where you find yourself thinking about how they heck they are going to land out of the insanity. Good version and great placement just one song removed from a similarly evil Maze.

Sparkle was a nice reprieve and a welcome chance to catch my breath, although not played with 100% precision. I had just commented on the hope they'd bring some levity to the set a second before they kicked into this one.

Back down into the depths with ASIHTOS - more fine soloing from Trey (although I always cross my fingers they take this one cosmic).

Space Oddity was an incredible treat. I'm glad they have done this a few times (and I managed to catch it), because it is abundantly clear they practiced it a lot and boy does it show. Crowd was just eating this up. Really really cool.

Overall Set I: They had me thinking it would be a jukebox set with the first 4 tunes, but from Cities onward they put out a really really good set 1.
Highlights: Cities>Maze Wombat, Split Open and Melt, Space Oddity

Second set $$
Down with Disease is a reliable set II opener, and equally reliable in providing some good jamming. This version did not disappoint. Trey's type I solo had me feeling really fine and the band followed that up by navigating into some patient spaces culminating in one of those unbelievable noise peaks with Trey kicking in the tube screamers and trying to blow the roof off the place with his screeching. Powerful stuff.

Dropping Fuego here was actually a nice call, although I was thinking this would be a in the box version with Trey soaking up the adorations of the faithful. They surprised me here by taking a really neat approach to the end jam & after some more fine melodic work they took it down into the quiet space funk that reminded me of some shows from an older vintage. They came back strong into the theme after the master class in dynamics and interplay, which was a nice resolution on the opening two song stanza.

When the chunky Ghost cord kicked in I did a double take. How many heavy hitters can you fit in a set. Shades of the 1927 Yankees murderers row lineup here. Awesome version of Ghost with a funky dance jam section which set the table for a classic Trey cathartic hose jam.

Scents and Subtle Sounds was the set's breather...so yea, it's going to be one of those shows! This is a tremendous song, and this version was fairly compact but the jam was still really nice and it's just such a treat.

Light - the jamming continues! This was doesn't take too long to give us the goods and the manteca quote is never unwelcome. More fine jamming and another feather in the cap of this 3.0 vehicle.

->No Quarter with Page getting some more time in the spotlight working a nice piano solo into the Zep cover. I've been fortunate to catch this tune 3 times now, with the debut and SBIX versions being similarly satisfying. Great song, great placement, great energy. Trey annihilates and eviscerates.

Fluffhead is the victory lap - well earned - and the crowd responds in kind with a celebratory vibe (lots of hugs and high fives were being bandied about in my section). The song wasn't played perfectly, but that didn't limit the power of that final release and peak.

Set II: Pretty hard to argue that this setlist was close to perfection in construction and largely execution. Jamming all over the place, tons of heavy-weight tunes. People will be rightfully ecstatic about this one.
Highlights: The entire set.

Encore:
Bug - I heard Trey playing a slight variation on that big Bug riff in one of the earlier jams so I was sort of waiting for this to pop up. When it did in the encore slot I felt as though it was appropriate, take a minute, reflect on what happened and then some final fireworks...but wait....there's more...

First Tube is a fine way to end any show and this version reached a screaming peak with Jedi Trey doing his thing with the axe. A really great celebratory stamp on a fine show.

4.25/5 - This show creeps into the upper echelon of 3.0 shows and would go 10 rounds with many of the better shows from earlier eras. Only things keeping this from elite is perhaps a lack of a true Signature Jam or some deeper exploration in Set 1.

SET I:
Chalkdust Opener, a Wombat bustout, a fine knotty and nervy Melt and the return of Breath and Burning, a song I once loathed but now, I can't wait to hear the studio version of it. The third appearance of Space Oddity ended the set, and it's cool that they're playing that a bit more, and if anyone complains, ya mutha.

SET II:
Down with Disease kicked things off, and began in the usual Type-1 circa 1995 , and Page's organ work things up even further and keeps the blood flow seemingly speeding towards the usual peak before Trey starts wailing.Then they build up and Trey starts firing away before heading into full on tension territory, getting quieter but retaining speed and then heading into even spacier territory when page heads over to the Rhodes, when Trey opts to go for a beautiful progression usually reserved for Gin jams. This guitar/ Rhodes texture sounds just fantastic, but they only ride it for a minute as Trey takes control again and Fish tightens the tension, with Page still playing the Rhodes. They continue with this for a minute or two, and then Trey just screams, and the tension is really rising, with Mike dropping bombs before the whole thing melts into space and the effects take hold, and then Page begins the opening piano line to Fuego.

Fuego had a nice melodic jam, and Trey teased the Bug while soloing, and Page just killed it with the organ here. Then Ghost comes in, and after a minute's jamming, starts to turn nasty, with Mike turning on the bass synth and Fish speeding up the tempo. But then Trey goes up the fretboard and starts spinning out beautiful phrases with Page backing him on the grand and Mike laying down an ever present bass line. Then, Fish starts an almost techno-like beat and after some beating around the bush, Trey just begins fucking wailing and Page is hammering on the grand, then moves over to the organ, and the whole thing is just so glorious. Trey is just SCREAMING and it sounds incredible and the whole sonic tapestry is just in line and alive and kicking, then the jam winds down, before heading into Scents and Subtle Sounds, which I'm not even going to comment on because THAT WAS GODDAMN INCREDIBLE. AND IT WAS LESS THAN 11 MINUTES LONG.

After Scents, it's Light, which goes into quiet territory, then the jam turns weird and almost confused before... Manteca! Ah jeez, who doesn't love Manteca, even if it is only ten seconds of crab in my shoemouth. After that, the jam briefly turns dreamy with a few Manteca quotes taboot, and then... it's over. Felt a little premature, but it was still funny as hell to hear Manteca.

Then ''No Quarter (damn right this is No Quarter) and Fluffhead for good measure, and Bug and First Tube to end it.

ahem, anyway, the Ghost tops last night's Sneaking Sally; the best jam of the tour in sheer focus and cathartic release alone, but beyond that? There's Fluffhead, the DwD jam was pretty darn good, there was Space Oddity...

So you could call this a bit of a one trick pony, but even if it may seem like it kind of is, that's one hell of a pony to have. The rest is fun and all, but the Ghost is just a towering storm cloud over the rest of the show, but there's still some very good moments in there besides that behemoth, and the show has excellent flow, arguably the best of the tour.

Also Page and Fish were MVP's here; they both gave jams a right kick up the ass and a hell of a lot more more vigor.

Overall, another very solid show for SF. The boys love this venue and it shows. Always high energy, always LOUD, and almost always elicits the dark, spooky side of things - this show was no exception, giving the monumental 8/19/12 throwdown a run for it's money.

I'm surprised that only one other reviewer noted the tension/release jamming that really defined the flow of the entire show. All of the first set "jams" i.e., Theme, Cities, Maze, SOAM just built sooooo much tension that the room was just about to burst at the seams. I have the hardest time explaining that beautifully perfect yet somehow almost uncomfortable tension - like you're at the starting line of a race ready to explode at the sound of the gun. Yeah, they relieved a little pressure when Trey NAILED the 2nd peak of Maze, but otherwise they just let everyone sit on the built up tension and anticipation during set break.

DWD opened the 2nd set with more tension and the place was wound so tight and in such a frenzy, setting the stage perfectly for the flow that FINALLY came during Fuego>Ghost>SASS>Light. Night turned to day, the air got fresher, the room bigger and the vibe oh-so free and easy. Phishgasm. This is why I keep coming back.

No Quarter lit the place up like an early victory lap and you certainly can't get out of San Francisco in 3.0 without a Fluffhead - goddamn right!

Standard Bug and punchy First Tube nightcap made for a really solid show.

Highlights are well documented; probably only Ghost will be sought out and have high replay value. This to me is more one of those "had to be there" kind of shows with great ebb-flow/tension/release, no real lows, a couple legit bustouts, the ever-loved Fluffhead, and 100% really good music.

4.5/5 rounded up to 5 due to an amazing 2nd set that lands in my personal top 5 sets for shows attended.

Easily the best show of the tour so far. The first set has great flow, song selection, tight playing, and the return of wombat. The second set is just butter. Disease gets to some exciting paces, Fuego steps outside the box briefly, Ghost is the highlight of the show (Jesus Trey...), Scents is just an incredible song with a more melodic jam than the psychedelic 2015 versions, and that lands perfectly into light where Trey catches a cool riff before they treat us to Manteca. Finally No Quarter and Fluff provide great contrast between each other to end a thriller of a show.
No doubt 2016 is a down year compared to 2015, but hey, 2015 was a peak year for a reason. Not much can live up to that. However, it is great to see the band is finally catching their stride. It's too bad they only have three shows before they take a month off. Better late than never!

Finally a real good solid show. This and Mansfield are the two best shows of tour so far IMO. I'm not sure which I would put first and second at this point however. Important thing is real good show and hopefully the jamming goes deeper from this point forward. And above all they played my fav my favorite tune (Scents). It was without intro so that takes a little sting out of it but not much. Fingers crossed for five song second set tonight. Enjoy and be safe all

Finally a real good solid show. This and Mansfield are the two best shows of tour so far IMO. I'm not sure which I would put first and second at this point however. Important thing is real good show and hopefully the jamming goes deeper from this point forward. And above all they played my fav my favorite tune (Scents). It was without intro so that takes a little sting out of it but not much. Fingers crossed for five song second set tonight. Enjoy and be safe all

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